Luis de Cordova y Cordova

Luis de Cordova y Cordova (8 February 1706-29 December 1796) was an Admiral of the Kingdom of Spain's navy, joining the navy in 1717 at the age of 11. He fought in the Spanish-Barbary Wars, the War of the Polish Succession, and American Revolutionary War.

Biography
Luis de Cordova y Cordova was born in Seville on 8 February 1706, and he joined the Spanish Navy at the age of 11. By 1719 he had made his first trip to the Spanish Americas, and from 1721-1723 he attended the Naval Academy of Cadiz. He was made ensign at the end, and he fought in the wars with the Barbary States and Austrian Empire; at the Battle of Bitonto on 25 May 1734, he assisted in Spain's reconquest of the Kingdom of Naples.

During the American Revolutionary War, Luis de Cordova's fleet of 37 French and Spanish ships captured a fleet of 63 British vessels (including 55 trade ships) in the Action of 9 August 1780 off the coast of the Azores, damaging Great Britain's war effort and beginning peace talks with Spain for a separate peace. On 20 October 1782, he again defeated a British trade fleet at the Battle of Cape Spartel during the Great Siege of Gibraltar, although the victory failed to achieve the goal of cutting trade routes to the city. He died at the age of 90 in 1796.